wild from a fish farm here or in greece i would say..........

 

Which ever way you look at it he's breaking the law, by either selling undersized Bass or mis-describing farmed Bass as "wild," which is probably the case. Trading standards would take a dim view of the situation if they found out. Incidently did you notice how much he was selling them for?

 

Yeah.....£3.80 a pound!! Scandalous when you consider the fillets off one would be about 8 inches max, and not very thick at all!!

 

It is possible that someone has caught the bass (small school bass can be caught in great numbers in certain places, in particular hot water outflows at powerstations etc) and they may have then approached said fishmonger and offered him their illegal quarry. Given his unscrupulous nature he has agreed to "take the fish off their hands" probably for a meager amount, and is now punting them out claiming they are "wild" bass. Either way both angler and fishmonger are breaking the law. I would suggest reporting him to trading standards or environmental health, if what you say about his mackerel is anything to go buy I'm sure they'd have a field day in his shop!!

As for the Bass being farmed - can't see a bass farmer harvesting undersized bass when he can feed em up then sell them legally and get more money for them?? maybe thats just common sense prevailing

 

As for the Bass being farmed - can't see a bass farmer harvesting undersized bass when he can feed em up then sell them legally and get more money for them?? maybe thats just common sense prevailing

i've bought bass labelled as "greek farmed", from a certain very large supermarket, which were about the size of a weight lifting sardine. in fact, it wasn't until i started sea fishing that i discovered that the weight of a fully grown bass wasn't usually about 8 ounces!

 

"As for the Bass being farmed - can't see a bass farmer harvesting undersized bass when he can feed em up then sell them legally and get more money for them?? maybe thats just common sense prevailing"


as a now redundant fishmonger i can say that they are most probably farmed bass which he is trying to flog as wild to sell them faster. Although the farmed bass i used to sell went for £6.70 per kg. Wild bass goes for close to double that.

As for farmed bass they have no size limit as it has no effect on bass stocks in the wild. Also they sell them small as they are portion sized, actually very popular! Mainly farmed in the med as they grow quicker due to the heat.

golden mackeral? this guy does sound pretty stupid so maybe he'll sell them as "rare golden mackeral organically hand caught by elves":g:

martin

 

I was in a local, well thought of, fishmongers yesterday and bought 4 Mackerel for bait as I was unsure there were any still out there. Anyway, I asked the chap if they were fresh and he said that they were fresh yesterday and asked if I wanted them gutting. On using them in the boat that day, I found them to be almost liquid inside. A newly sharpened filleting knife was squashing them rather than cutting them into chunks. How they were fit for human consumption I'll never know - and ungutted - unflippinbelievable!!!

 

:clap3:The legal landing size for wild bass is 36cms, or 14 1/8 inches. So, if they were under that they were either farmed or illegally landed. Most of the farmed bass sold are around the 36cm mark as that's when they are commercially viable. Certainly worth a call to Defra or the trading standards office.:clap3:

 

A lot of people jumping on the 'Dodgy' bandwagon here without knowing any of the facts at all. Instead of asking for opinions on here and getting endless speculation why not ask the fishmonger himself?

There is no MLS for farmed bass, and the fishmonger may have aquired them perfectly legitimately for all we know, phoning DEFRA and releasing the hounds without knowing the full story is a bit OTT in my opinion.

 

There is no MLS for farmed bass, and the fishmonger may have aquired them perfectly legitimately for all we know.

Rob I think the issue is that they were being sold as "wild bass".

 

If you want to see undersize bass, go to your local Lidl. They've currently got a seafood special on and are selling frozen bass in packs of 3-5 fish. I've found bigger by opening a tin of John West pilchards

 

Best thing to do is to report it to Trading Standards in the first instance. They will investigate the "wild" description - the fishmonger is legally obliged to give them the details of who supplied the fish. If they turn out to be farmed he is in the s**t with Trading Standards, if they are wild the matter will be reported to Fisheries who may investigate whoever supplied them. Environmental Health could be also be called on the stale fish issue, chances are they won't act unless they have other complaints.

 

Best thing to do is to report it to Trading Standards in the first instance. They will investigate the "wild" description - the fishmonger is legally obliged to declare who supplied him with the fish. If they turn out to be farmed he is in the s**t with Trading Standards, if they are wild the matter will be reported to Fisheries who may investigate whoever supplied them.

Trading Standards are a waste of time. IF - you ever get them to answer the phone, they'll try fobbing you off by saying 'this is really a matter for.....' or ' where's the company's head office based?' as you have to talk to their, local TS office - and so on:wallbash:

 

A lot of people jumping on the 'Dodgy' bandwagon here without knowing any of the facts at all. Instead of asking for opinions on here and getting endless speculation why not ask the fishmonger himself?

Hehe, and what do you think the reply will be? 'Fair cop Guvnor.' ?

 

What if the bass were caught wild in say, greece? are they still illegal?
Mtm

 

What if the bass were caught wild in say, greece? are they still illegal?
Mtm

Yes there's a Europe wide MLS,I believe,I had my bass (42 cm and 44 cm)checked by a French Fishery Officer in Normandy a few years ago.You could have knocked me down with a feather!Shame they seem to be a bit lax with their commercials judging by the small bass for sale direct from the fishing boats!(I think it's a MLS of 36cm for Northern Europe but I may be wrong)

 

steve--there is a different size limit for french-mediteranean bass....only about 24cm i belive...could be 23cm, its one of the two.
north coast of france is same as uk, you are right.

 

steve--there is a different size limit for french-mediteranean bass....only about 24cm i belive...could be 23cm, its one of the two.
north coast of france is same as uk, you are right.

At last a sensible answer...What is this site coming too?...Reporting fishmongers,get on the phone everytime you see a net,dont post catch reports in case someone might go there and take a few home or even worse 'Super Trawler' is reading the site to know where you are catching them Dabs from....Get in the real world people and either go fishing or turn it in altogether....It just gets worse daily.:uhuh:

 

At last a sensible answer...What is this site coming too?...Reporting fishmongers,get on the phone everytime you see a net,dont post catch reports in case someone might go there and take a few home or even worse 'Super Trawler' is reading the site to know where you are catching them Dabs from....Get in the real world people and either go fishing or turn it in altogether....It just gets worse daily.:uhuh:

For some crazy reason, perhaps a lot of anglers feel they have something worth fighting for, and worth protecting. Maybe not all of that anger, despair and bad feeling isn't all just unjustified whining, what do you think?

Oh and there is a point common on internet forums where the whine about whining becomes more irritating than the original whine. Just a tip for ya. :kissing:

 

What is this site coming too?...Reporting fishmongers,get on the phone everytime you see a net,dont post catch reports in case someone might go there and take a few home or even worse 'Super Trawler' is reading the site to know where you are catching them Dabs from....Get in the real world people and either go fishing or turn it in altogether....It just gets worse daily.:uhuh:

phew well said ron thought it was just me

 

phew well said ron thought it was just me

same here!

 

steve--there is a different size limit for french-mediteranean bass....only about 24cm i belive...could be 23cm, its one of the two.
north coast of france is same as uk, you are right.

Would be so much easier to have that size throughout the EU.

 

For some crazy reason, perhaps a lot of anglers feel they have something worth fighting for, and worth protecting. Maybe not all of that anger, despair and bad feeling isn't all just unjustified whining, what do you think?

Oh and there is a point common on internet forums where the whine about whining becomes more irritating than the original whine. Just a tip for ya. :kissing:

Too right, there is nothing wrong with standing up for yourself and reporting anything that you feel is wrong. I see no reason why we should let people get away with damaging fish stocks just because 'its only a few fish' and they are 'just trying to make a living.' That won't wash when there are no bass left.

If anglers dont report these sorts of things no one will.